


Before It Becomes Too Serious

by ashilrak



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 13:51:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11358810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashilrak/pseuds/ashilrak
Summary: "Falling in love with Alexander wasn’t something James had planned on, it was too early to even begin to entertain the thought. And yet, as he smiled at the new string of texts on his phone, he realized that it might just be what was happening to him. The smile spreading across his face wide enough to make his cheeks hurt in the middle of the day was something James would have to get used to."





	Before It Becomes Too Serious

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lol-phan-af (lol_phan_af)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lol_phan_af/gifts).



> Bella, you're my sunshine and I hope you enjoy this.

Falling in love with Alexander wasn’t something James had planned on, it was too early to even begin to entertain the thought. And yet, as he smiled at the new string of texts on his phone, he realized that it might just be what was happening to him. The smile spreading across his face wide enough to make his cheeks hurt in the middle of the day was something James would have to get used to. 

It was by chance that he had met Alexander. Thomas had dragged him along to some too-professional-to-be-casual work event of his, and he had found himself sitting next to Aaron Burr, learning about the differences between the different roasts of coffee the restaurant they were at served.

Alexander had saved him from the meaningless small-talk - had plopped in the open space on the other side of Burr and started to talk, and didn’t stop. Burr didn’t last very long, and Alexander had turned his attention to James. By the end of the night, James had a warm feeling in his chest and a new number in his phone.

They had met up a couple times since - dates - the most recent of which had ended with them making out on James’ couch like a couple of horny teenagers. 

James silenced his phone and put it in the drawer, knowing that there was no way he’d get any work done if he kept taking the time to respond to Alexander’s texts. It was a mystery how Alexander had a job if that was how he was all the time, and judging by how long Alexander could talk for, it was.

The day went by slowly, and every part of James wanting to open the drawer and check his phone to see whatever Alexander had decided to comment on while he had been working. His fingers froze over his keyboard, and James took in a deep breath. He could do this. It was a half a day. He’d check his phone on the way to Thomas’. He could do this. He nodded to himself, once, and focused in one the screen in front of him. 

Time passed faster when he was busy, so James focused in on his work and didn’t let his mind wander. The clock ticked by and the day dragged on, but, finally, James saw his co-workers start to head out for day.

James powered down his computer and grabbed his phone from the drawer he had shoved it in - twelve messages from Alex, one missed call from Thomas. 

It was supposed to be good to force distance between yourself and a new boyfriend - he had waited this long, he could wait another hour or two. James clicked on Thomas’ name. 

Thomas answered after the second ring, “Jemmy jem jem!”

“Thomas, I’m just leaving work now,” he said. “I should be there in about twenty minutes. Same coffee place as usual, right?”

“Of course,” Thomas replied, a buzz of voices in the background. “See you soon.”

James hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket. It was tempting to open Alex’s messages, but he knew that if he did he wouldn’t want to put his phone down. Thomas deserved his full attention. He shifted his bag on his shoulder and walked out onto the street. It was busy, as usual, but it was a familiar hum of life around him. 

The coffee shop was bustling, but Thomas was already at their usual corner, coffee and pastries on the table in front of him. 

James sat down, corner of his mouth quirking up into a grin. “Hello.”

Thomas pushed his coffee - decaf mocha - across the table and said, “it’s probably not polite to start by asking about your sex life, but that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

He froze, the coffee halfway to his mouth. James set it down. “There is no sex life.”

“Your new boy then,” Thomas said, leaning forward. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“You didn’t notice anything, I told you.”

Thomas shrugged. “Be that as it may, I still want to know all the dirty details.”

James sat back in his seat, smile widening, and said, “his name is Alex. He’s completely not what I’d think of as my type, but for some reason, it’s working. He’s just,” James looked to the side and took a sip of coffee, “so full of life. I feel like I could watch him for hours.”

“That’s cute.” Thomas’ eyes crinkled with his smile. “I’m happy for you, but, most importantly, I need to meet this dude at some point. Before it becomes too serious.”

James raised a brow. “Really? Do I need to bring him over for dinner for your approval? Make sure Momma Thomas thinks that Alexander is enough of an upstanding young gentleman to be able to grace my bed?”

“Yes.” Thomas nodded. “That’s it exactly.”

He laughed, loud, bringing his hand up to his chest. “I’ll see what I can do.” James took in a deep breath to calm down. “Now, what about you?”

“What about me?” Thomas asked.

“Do you have any people in your life I should know about?” James stuck out his tongue. “If Alexander has to deal with Momma Thomas your next beau has got to deal with Momma James.”

Thomas pushed his chair away from the table. “I’m leaving, good bye. Never refer to yourself like that again, please and thank you.”

“You started it.”

“Fine,” Thomas said, narrowing his eyes. He took a sip of coffee and set his cup back down on the table before saying, “so there might be someone.”

“Really? Who?”

Thomas brought his hand up to his face. “It’s not like romantic or anything, I assure you.” 

James snorted. “Of course not - Thomas Jefferson is too good for measly romance.”

Thomas winked. “You know it.” 

“So tell me about this totally not romantic possible thing that might exist with this mysterious person.”

“So,” Thomas said. “You know that one guy I always complain about at work?”

James nodded. “The one that you always complain about sucking up to the boss?”

“Yeah, him.”

“What about him?” James asked.

Thomas picked at his pastry. “Well, we were arguing about something and at some point I told him to shut up and he was like ‘make me’.”

“Oh my god.”

Thomas laughed. “Right? Like?”

“So what did you do?” James took a sip of his coffee.

Thomas shook his head and said, “I don’t even remember the specifics but like ten minutes later my dick was down his throat, so that’s a thing.”

James brought his hand up to his mouth to keep the coffee from spraying across the table. “What?!”

Thomas wiped a napkin across the table. “Yep.”

He took in a deep breath. “I don’t know what to say.”

“But!” Thomas said, leaning forward. “That’s not even the worst part!”

“It gets worse?”

Thomas nodded. “Yes - the next day, he just fucking winked at me while giving a report! He acts like nothing happened!”

“I’m sorry?”

Thomas grumbled into his coffee. 

“Is he at least cute?” James asked. 

“I mean, he’s not hot, but,” Thomas pulled out his phone, “I don’t know, he’s still attractive? It’s that weird energy shit I think.”

“Ugly, but with a sexy vibe?”

Thomas snorted, flicking his thumb over the screen. “That’s about it, here,” Thomas shoved the phone in James’ direction.  

He blinked and grabbed the phone from Thomas’ hand. He blinked again. “Are you sure that’s the right guy?” It was Alexander - the same Alexander who had been texting him all day and who he had been fancying himself as capable of falling in love with. He took in a deep breath and zoomed in on the pic. “Like, are you sure sure?” 

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.” Thomas took the phone back. “It’s not really something you forget. Why?”

James raised his hands to his face and dragged them downward. “I’m going to leave now, goodbye.”

“Is everything okay?”

He shrugged. “I guess? Not really? I’ll talk to you later.” James stood up.

Thomas’ eyes were wide. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just that, you know,” he yanked his bag back onto his shoulder, “that’s my boyfriend.”

Thomas choked. “What?”

“Or I guess was my boyfriend, I’m going to have to go deal with that.” He turned around and headed out to leave.

Thomas reached out and grabbed his arm and said, “Wait, it’s not-”

He shook his head. “I’ll see you later.”

James’ phone burned in his pocket, the dozens of no doubt loving texts from Alexander waiting to be read. It didn’t matter. It was all a lie. He took in another deep breath and started to walk faster. He needed to get home, and he needed to get home now. He had always thought himself above such things, and yet he could feel the telltale lump in his throat and prickling at the corners of his eyes.

He wasn’t going to cry over Alexander Hamilton. 

At least not in public.

It was less than an hour before James was home safe in his apartment, but that hour felt like eternity. He shut the door behind him and leaned up against it, clenching his fists tight, the edge of the key pressing into the skin of his fingers.

He slid against the door until he was sitting on the ground, the back of his head pressed against the hardwood. James took in a deep breath. He could do this. It shouldn’t be such a big deal. He was an adult and he’d known Alexander for less than two months.

James pulled his phone out of his bag and his thumb hovered over his notifications - 27 text messages from Alexander. He bit his lip and unlocked his phone. He didn’t bother to read the messages before he clicked through to Alexander’s contact and hit call.

The anxiety balled up tighter in his chest with every ring. It went to voicemail.

James took in a shuddering breath and after the beep said, “Alexander, I’m breaking up with you. I know we weren’t really dating but I don’t know what else to call it. Please don’t contact me again. Thomas told me what happened, and I couldn’t believe it, but it was true, wasn’t it? It was true. Goodbye.” He waited for a moment before hanging up, trying to think of anything more to add.

He set his phone face down on the floor next to him and let the tears fall. It was ridiculous he was letting himself be so affected by something so stupid, to think that he had let himself have hope for a relationship. And yet, here he was. James ran a hand over his head, scratching at his hair. None of it mattered.

The next couple of days passed in a familiar blur - morning routine, go to work, go home, go to bed. For the first couple of days after he left the voicemail, James couldn’t go five minutes without the screen of his phone lighting up with some sort of message from Alexander. Everytime he saw Alexander’s name flash across the screen, he’d feel a short burst of anger and want to read the message, answer the phone to see just what Alexander had to say for himself.

James never gave in - didn’t let himself be caught up in Alexander’s words and excuses. 

The week passed and James found himself in the same coffee shop sitting across from Thomas. He almost hadn’t shown up, had almost laid the blame at Thomas’ feet. 

Thomas was concerned, James could see it on his face. Thomas pushed the coffee across the table and said, “you seem like you’ve been in a mood recently.”

James shrugged. “I guess you could say that.”

“You’ve been ignoring me.” Thomas’ voice wasn’t accusing, but James could sense the edge. He knew Thomas. It wasn’t a casual comment.

He sighed. “No I haven’t. I just haven’t been in a good mood recently.”

“Because you broke up with Hamilton.”

James snorted. “Of course I broke up with Hamilton - he cheated on me with my best friend.”

Thomas’ hand went up to scratch at the back of his neck. “You know, I tried to tell you, but-”

He took a sip of his coffee and asked, “what did you try to tell me?”

“That thing I told you about? With Hamilton? In the office?”

“Yeah?”

Thomas cleared his throat. “That actually happened a while ago, I just didn’t want to tell you while you were going through your dry spell.”

He swallowed. Thomas wasn’t meeting his eyes, looking out the window. He took in a deep breath. “Are you telling me I broke up with Alexander for nothing?”

“Maybe?” Thomas said, still not looking at him. “I mean, I’m not saying he’s not an asshole, but, yeah, he didn’t cheat on you - at least not with me.”

James tapped his fingers on the table. “Fuck.”

Thomas nodded. “Yep.”

“I’ve been ignoring him for a week, I can’t just call him up like nothing is wrong like ‘it’s a misunderstanding’.”

Thomas lifted his shoulders in a shrug and said, “I mean, you could.”

“But,” James narrowed his eyes, “I’m not going to.”

“Fair enough.”

James bent forward and pressed his forehead to the table. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Well,” Thomas said, “I might have taken that decision from your hands.”

He looked up and saw that Thomas still wasn’t looking at him, eyes flittering between the window and the door to the coffee shop. “Thomas, what did you do?”

Thomas bit his lip. “Well, I might have, um, well-”

“Thomas.” It came out harsher than James had intended, and Thomas flinched.

Thomas cleared his throat. “Um, so,” Thomas’ eyes widened, focusing on something just past James’ shoulder, “you’re about to find out.”

“Jefferson,” a familiar voice said, and James’ shoulders straightened in response. “You told me to meet you here for coffee. I have to admit I didn’t expect company.”

A sneer crossed Thomas’ face. “Why would I want to meet you alone?”

Alexander sat in the empty chair, not looking at James. “Why wouldn’t you? I mean, what’s not to love?” 

James could see the smile that was on Alexander’s face just by the tilt of the man’s head. He took in a deep breath and stood up, the chair scraping against the floor. “I think I’m going to leave.” There was a tension between Thomas and Alexander, and James understood just how the office situation had occurred in the first place. “I can tell where I’m not wanted." 

Alexander’s hand darted out to wrap around his wrist and James froze, startled. Thomas looked at him, panicked, and said, “don’t leave. You need to be here.”

James shook his head and pulled his wrist back. “I don’t think I do.” He grabbed his bag. “Thomas, I’ll see you later.” 

“James,” Alexander said, looking at him for the first time. “We need to talk.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s fine. Bye.”

The walk home was familiar and cold and James was alone and his best friend and ex-boyfriend were huddled over a table in the corner of a coffee shop. It all worked out in the end, James supposed. The world worked in mysterious ways. Thomas deserved somebody, someone who could make him happy, and make his eyes shine with laughter, and point out every single flaw in his argument until calm logic dissolved into a shouting match. James let out a breath. It was fine - better - this way. It might be a rough road, but Alex and Thomas would end up happy together, and he would be happy for them.

Sitting on the floor with his back against the door to his apartment was a familiar position, but familiarity didn’t make it any more comforting. He pressed the tips of his fingers against the floor, scratching his nails across the wood with the lightest pressure. 

James took in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm. There was nothing to be angry over, really. He’d get to say the toast at their wedding - a fun getting together story that would be unique to them and them alone. He was lucky for getting to play the part he did.

He startled, eyes flying open, at the sudden knock at the door. He didn’t move.

There was another knock, louder, more forceful. 

“James, open the fucking door.” It was Thomas.  

He pushed himself up into a standing position, but still didn’t open the door. There were more knocks, faster this time. “James, we need to talk." 

And Alexander was with Thomas. He sighed and turned around to open the door a crack. He peeked through, and Alexander stepped forward, reaching a hand forward. “James!”

He swallowed. “Hello. Why are you here?”

“Can we come in?” Thomas asked. “I feel like this will be better if we’re inside. I’ve spent enough time in this one’s presence to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed and he turned to glare at Thomas. “Excuse me?”

Thomas shrugged and waved toward James again. “Don’t worry about it, we’re here for James, remember. This is your fault, you have to fix it.”

Alexander opened his mouth to say something, but James opened the door wide enough to let them both in before he could. “Come on. We don’t need a scuffle in the middle of the hallway.”

“You say scuffle like I wouldn’t completely demolish Jefferson,” Alexander muttered. 

James snorted. “Right.”

They walked in and James shut the door, pressed his forehead against it for a second before turning around to follow Alexander and Thomas to his living room. 

Thomas sat down on the couch, sinking into the back of it with his arm thrown over the side. Alexander sat down on the edge of the cushion on the opposite end. James remained standing. He looked between the two of them for a moment before he sighed and asked, “so, why are you actually here?”

Alexander ran a hand through his hair. “Because I really want to address that whole break-up thing, because I’m not completely sure what that was all about and I kinda really want to fix it.”

He raised a brow. “You don’t know?” 

Alexander shrugged. “I mean, I do now - Thomas - but I didn’t before and I was really upset and I talked to John and Eliza about it but they weren’t very helpful and I wasn’t sure what to do and you weren’t answering me and I didn’t realize you and Thomas were friends and this is just-”

“Hamilton.” Thomas leaned over and put his hand over Alexander’s mouth. “Shut up.”

James chuckled and said, “this really isn’t all necessary. You two obviously seem to be getting along just fine. I think it’s fine if you go run off and be happy. Go get coffee and talk about everything. There’s obviously something sexual there - I’m not blind. Go, be happy.”

Thomas shook his head. “James, I love you, but you’re an idiot.”

“Am I?”

Alexander nodded and reached up to yank Thomas’ hand down. “I mean, I’m ready to argue that you’re actually a genius, but in this moment you’re an idiot.” Alexander stood up and grabbed at James’ hand. “I’m not here for Thomas - like, I’m here because of Thomas - but I’m here because I want to talk to you. I want to date you.”

He pulled his hand away. “Why?” 

Alexander smiled. “Because you’re really great. I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but there’s something special about you, James. It’s like magic, I swear.”

“I’m not blind, Alexander. Whatever this magic is, you’re attracted to Thomas.”

Alexander shrugged. “So are you.”

James snorted. “Not the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

Thomas leaned forward on the couch. “Can I butt in here?”

James looked at Thomas for a moment. “No.” He turned back to Alexander. “I see how you and Thomas could work. I might be a little upset - who isn’t after a breakup of any kind - but you’ll be so much happier with him.”

Alexander took a step closer. “But I want to be happy with you.”

“But you’ll always be attracted to Thomas. That’s not going to go away, you’re going to have to deal with that. I’m afraid that between the two of us, I’m not the one you’d pick, and I don’t want to deal with that fear.”

Thomas stood up and placed a hand on James’ shoulder. “Can I say something?”

He shrugged. “You are physically capable, yes.”

Thomas looked to Alexander. “Do you mind?”

Alexander shrugged.

Thomas cleared his throat. “So, uh, this might be a little out there, but, um, I don’t know how to say this.”

James crossed his arms. “Figure it out.”

“So.” Thomas rubbed at the back of his neck. “You’re thinking about this like Hamilton has to pick between us, yeah? The tension we have and the actual cute romance thing he has with you?”

“Basically.”

Thomas looked to the side and muttered to himself. “I can’t believe I’m saying this.” He ran a hand down his face. “Okay, but what if he didn’t have to choose?”

James sputtered. “What?!”

“Like,” Thomas said. “What if he could have both of us?”

Alexander looked between James and Thomas with a considering look in his eyes and said, “I’m not against that, if I’m being perfectly honest.”

James shook his head. “What the fuck, Thomas?”

“I mean, like,” Thomas started to pace, “what if the three of us tried dating? It couldn’t be that hard, right? You and I have been friends for years. You two had a good thing going on. Hamilton and I would have the hardest time of it, but I think it could work out. You’d mellow us out, it’d be perfect!” 

James blinked. “This isn’t a spur of the moment thing, is it?”

Thomas looked at him, and hesitated for a moment before saying, “no, not really.” Thomas’ eyes were pleading, and James felt his heart freeze in his chest for a moment. 

He took in a deep breath. “You’re serious?”

Thomas nodded.

James breathed out. “You really think that could work?”

Thomas nodded again.

He looked toward Alexander. “What do you think?”

Alexander’s eyes flickered between him and Thomas. “I’m willing to try it out if you are.”

James reached out his hands - one toward Alexander and one toward Thomas. “Okay.” The three of them stood in a circle, staring at eachother. James nodded to himself and smiled. “Okay.”

Alexander and Thomas smiled back, both squeezing his hand tight. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to come pester me at my [tumblr](http://ashilrak.tumblr.com)! :^))
> 
> <3 <3 <3 <3 <3


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